Rick Hill is the Valero Alamo Bowl’s VP of Marketing and Communications. Prior to the bowl, Rick spent 6 years working for the Spurs, one season with Missions Baseball and two fruitless months trying to sell season tickets for the S.A. Riders.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Looking For A Few Good Men and Women

Trinity University is hosting a symposium titled Sports Management: Getting into the Game – next Thursday (April 8) where I will speak along with fellow Trinity graduates Greg Simmons of KSAT, Tom James of the San Antonio Spurs and other members of the local sports management community such as Lynn Hickey, the Director of Athletics at UTSA.

Ironically as I sit here jotting down ideas on how to start a career in sports and recent trends in the industry, I find it easier to think of things not to do after reading through the 50+ resumes and cover letters for the Valero Alamo Bowl’s internship program.

Here’s my list:

Don’t forget to proofread all job correspondence. Multiple times with multiple eyes. I caught two spelling mistakes in the first sentence of one cover letter and a nonsensical sentence in another one that read: “It makes me happy to make people happy.” That sounds as ridiculous as the two that wrote they had a “nagging love” and an “excitingly overwhelming love” for sports. I want someone to be excited about the opportunity, but simply loving people or sports is not going to separate you from the pack.

Make your past experiences relevant to potential employers. We don’t expect anyone to have previous football or college bowl experience so we have an excitingly overwhelming love for candidates who highlight transferable skills like the waitress who talked about how working at a restaurant taught her to deal with stress, juggle multiple duties and learn customer service. This was a decided contrast to the applicant that wrote his main responsibility as “Assistant to the Fry Cook” was to “fry things.”

Don’t post anything on your Facebook or Twitter accounts that hurts your chances. Last year a top candidate tweeted he was “So not excited about the Alamo Bowl internship. I need the credits to graduate, but I have no desire to spend 6 months in San Antonio.”

Don’t lie. A past intern candidate said she was proficient in Spanish and when we put her on the spot she struggled to the point I doubt she could even order off a Tex-Mex menu. For another example of why it’s a bad idea, see George O’Leary.

Don’t say too much. We spend less than 30 seconds reading each cover letter so keep it short to help the important things stand out. My apologies for dinging the person who had a 15 sentence paragraph in their 2-page cover letter. But my feeling is if you have accomplished that much, you shouldn’t be applying for an internship.

Don’t list out GPAs or irrelevant majors. A 2.4 GPA is going to shut more doors than it will open and seeing one candidate list a Biology major with no relevant experience makes me question if he’ll have the same determination as some of the other applicants.

Spell the company name correctly. I’m not sure if I’m more bothered by the applicant that addressed his letter to Alamobowl (instead of Valero Alamo Bowl) or the one who called us the Cotton Bowl. Gold stars to the two candidates who used our correct twitter address (@valeroalamobowl) on their page and a platinum star to anyone who refers to this blog post in a future interview as it shows us they are looking through our website and Twitter page.

Other #FAIL moments include resumes that are poorly spaced and look like they were typed on a 1983 IBM Selectric typewriter from supposed rock star graphic designers and applicants who include inappropiate email addresses. Bigjohnson@yahoo.com may have gotten an interview if his last name was really Johnson (it wasn’t) and the double faux pas of having “partygirl” as part of her email address along with enclosing a Glamour Shots photo killed one candidate’s chances.

This year we should again end up with a strong group of three interns that will support our six full-time staffers while learning skills that jump start their careers. However, I know some talented applicants are being tossed aside just because of some easy to correct errors. And when you’re fighting the numbers to break into sports you need to do everything you can to stay in the game, especially in a tough job market.

Rick Hill

5 Responses

Thanks for understanding Ed. I’m glad the biology majors aren’t mad at me anymore and I just apologized to the candidate who had the term “nagging love” in his cover letter. Props to him for calling me out during the interview.

Thanks for the edit. Kids ask me for advice on breaking into the industry and I tell them professional presenatation and relevant work experience. While I double-majored in Biology and Chemistry, I found time to work as a sportscaster at the student radio station and as a sports columnist with school newspaper. Hanging around the SID’s office also helped. Good advice. Good luck.

Ed, I have clarified #6 based on your comment. I didn’t intend to throw Biology majors under the bus as I have first hand knowledge about what a tough major it is. That being said, people with specialized majors and summer work experience that does not transfer to a sports career will typically face more challenges trying to break into the industry. And yes Derrick was a political science major, but I’m sure the Fiesta Bowl appreciated the three years we spent working in Duke’s intramural office. Thanks for reading.

I wish I could attend the talk so as to hear from industry leaders such as the talented Mr. Hill and the venerable Mr. James. Both had a great mentor from TU in the form of James Hill. Eery coincidence with the names. Mr. rick HIll could teach a resume writing class to the youths of San Antonio with his expertise and critical eye.

I am unsure why you would question the dedication of a Biology major interested in sports. I graduated with a Biology degree (and a JD and MBA) and have 20+ years working in sports marketing and as a player agent. Isn’t Derrick Fox’s degree in political science? He’s fortunate the Fiesta Bowl folks had an open mind when they hired him as an intern.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

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